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<strong></strong>The cost of caring for patients with Alzheimer’s disease is rising at an unsustainable pace, according to a recent study released last month.

The Alzheimer’s Association’s 2012 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures shows that the cost of caring for those living with the disease will reach $200 billion this year. That number likely will balloon to $1.1 trillion a year by 2050.

“Alzheimer’s is already a crisis and it’s growing worse with every year,” said Alzheimer’s Association President Harry Johns in a statement. “While lives affected and care costs soar, the cost of doing nothing is far greater than acting now.”

Medicare and Medicaid programs have covered about 70 percent of the costs for patient care. But that doesn’t account for the additional spending on treatment of chronic diseases that frequently afflict those with Alzheimer’s—diabetes, for example. Medicare will pay out 81 percent more for a patient with dementia and diabetes than for someone with just diabetes, according to the report.

The Alzheimer’s Association advocates for a greater focus on research into treatments that may cure, delay or even prevent the disease. “Alzheimer’s is a tremendous cost for families and for Medicare and Medicaid,” said Johns. “This crisis simply cannot be allowed to reach its maximum scale because it will overwhelm an already overburdened system.”

There is no current treatment to cure, prevent or slow Alzheimer’s. You can learn more <a href=”http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2012.pdf”>here</a>.